Broadband News

Easynet set to get LLU ball rolling

Easynet perhaps the last great hope for LLU and what was once seen as the big competition to BT's DSL rollout is ready to enter the fray now.

They have 105 SME's using the Battersea exchange at present and the Holborn exchange is next where it has 50 corporate customers. The good news is that from January 2002 they intend to open 10
exchanges a month.

Easynet's role out is heavily sales lead and relies on building custom with small business's and then enabling the exchange, this should allow their rollout to remain economically sustainable and
hopefully slowly progress across the country into areas where BTwholesale arent already providing a DSL service. Through the merger with ipsaris earlier in the year Easynet gained a 3500km fibre
network, ideal for supporting a nationwide DSL rollout.

If the Easynet service provides real competition in the business product arena then we may see BTwholesale unshackled by the regulator and perhaps some more competition in the 20:1 business product
range, with contention starting to be a factor heavy home users might be interested in the 20:1 package if it could reach a critical price point of £50/month wholesale.